Zzzzt… zzzzt…
The lightning slowly vanished, and wisps of smoke curled up from Luffy's body.
"Huh? What's going on?" Luffy blinked, looking innocently at everyone.
"…"
Everyone's mouths were wide open, yet they were speechless. They stared at the completely unharmed Luffy, their eyes bulging in shock.
"Lu-Lu-Luffy-san~" Coby was utterly stunned. Standing close by, he could fully sense the terrifying power contained within that bolt of lightning.
"How is that possible?" Enel was also bewildered. The power of that attack should have been enough to easily shatter the steel armor of a battleship!
Thump!
Garp suddenly slapped his hand, realizing the situation. "Luffy is a Rubber Man. Lightning has no effect on rubber. Luffy-boy is an insulator."
"Rubber?!"
Hearing Garp's words, Enel was reminded that the Blue Sea did indeed have an insulator called rubber that was unaffected by lightning. This meant that the man before him, who had eaten the Gum-Gum Fruit, was his sole natural enemy.
Enel's face darkened, and he said sinisterly, "It doesn't matter. He can't keep up with my speed anyway, and my hand-to-hand combat skills are excellent."
In the next moment, Enel transformed into a flash of lightning and shot out at light speed.
"Cut the nonsense. I'm still here!" Garp's eyes sharpened. He instantly blocked Luffy, simultaneously punching out.
Clang!
Garp's fist and Enel's golden staff instantly collided. A startling explosion of air pressure burst forth, sweeping in all directions like a gale, kicking up a skyful of dust. Nearby people were all forcefully thrown back by the shockwave, scattered in all directions.
In that moment, Enel felt an overwhelming force transfer from his golden staff, like an enormous mountain pressing down. He was sent uncontrollably flying backward.
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
Enel tumbled head over heels, even smashing through a surrounding wall, only stopping with a dusty crash about sixty or seventy meters away.
"Lightning boy, you've still got a long way to go," Garp said, grinning widely.
"Ptooey, ptooey..."
"Bastard! I'll kill you first! Then I'll kill your grandson!"
Enel clumsily picked himself up, spitting out sand and dirt, then glared fiercely at Garp.
"There can't be two Rubber Men in the world!"
Enel extended his arm, pointing his palm at Garp. Crackling currents of electricity danced freely over his hand.
"Everyone, get back!"
Garp frowned, sensing the terrifying speed at which the opponent was gathering power. He quickly instructed Luffy and his subordinates to evacuate.
"Hurry!" Luffy's expression changed. Although he had never witnessed his grandfather's true strength, he knew this was definitely not something his current self could withstand. Anyone who could make his grandfather frown must be a monster.
"Disperse quickly!" As the Vice Commander, Bogard naturally knew his superior's power, and the opponent was an infamous great pirate. Once they started fighting, it would undoubtedly lead to catastrophic destruction.
Without a moment of hesitation, everyone immediately fled, terrified of being caught in the clash.
"Tch, none of you are getting away! El Thor!!"
Along with Enel's furious shout, terrifying electrical power condensed. A blinding, dazzling flash of lightning erupted, emitting a pale white light. A colossal column of electricity, nearly a meter in diameter, suddenly extended and blasted forward. The rampant current scorched the ground's grass black.
"That's blinding. Should I ask Borsalino for a pair of sunglasses?" Garp squinted slightly, facing the instantaneous attack of the massive lightning column. He said calmly, "However, I can't let you cause chaos."
He clenched his fist, and a layer of black immediately covered it, gleaming with a metallic luster even in the intense light.
In the next moment, he punched out.
Whoosh—
First, the air vibrated subtly. But when the distance to the lightning column was only a few centimeters, a terrifying surge of force suddenly erupted. A visible white Armament Haki pressure slammed hard against Enel's lightning column.
Rumble, rumble, boom!
A sound like muffled thunder echoed, and the surrounding ground began to vibrate violently. In mere seconds, it spread throughout the entire Water 7, causing the whole city to shake noticeably.
"What's going on?"
"An earthquake?"
"No way! How is that possible?"
The residents in the city looked around in terror, some even losing their footing, sitting or falling to the ground.
"How can this be?"
Enel's eyes were wide with disbelief. "How can an old man who only relies on physical strength have this kind of power? Is he a monster?! To disperse my El Thor head-on with pure physical strength is far too absurd!"
"Hehehe… Lightning boy, there are many things you don't know," Garp said with a grin. He then stopped smiling and said in a grave voice, "But since you dared to attack the Marines and recklessly use your power in the city, don't blame me for not respecting the Golden Ring boy's face!"
Boom!
Whoosh!
The ground cracked open, and Garp instantly shot forward, leaving a strong gust of wind in his wake. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Enel.
"Fist of Love!"
Clang!
Thud!
In an instant, Enel was sent flying backward again, a faint streak of blood tracing his path through the air.
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
Enel, now a black shadow, violently slammed into a large sailing ship inside the Galley-La Company's Dock One.
The tremendous shockwave stirred up a smoke-like cloud of dust, which slowly dissipated after ten-odd seconds.
Clink!
A crisp metallic sound rang out as the golden staff, now bent into a U-shape, clattered onto the ground.
Whoosh!
A large amount of shattered wood fell down. Enel, buried underneath, braced himself against a nearby wooden pillar and managed to stand up, blood dripping from both corners of his mouth.
"Such… such powerful strength! He's the Marine Hero, yet he's just a crude, old bastard!" Enel's face was pale. He never expected the opponent's single punch to bend the golden staff he had used to block his chest. That staff was made of highly condensed gold, forged with his own high-temperature lightning, making it incredibly hard.
Even so, the remaining force still sent him spitting blood and flying hundreds of meters. If he hadn't used Armament Haki to defend, that single punch might have knocked him out cold.
"Hey, Lightning boy! I heard you challenged Whitebeard. How does my punch compare to that bastard's?"
Garp's loud voice clearly reached inside the ship.
"Bastard!" Hearing that, Enel's mouth twitched.
A flash of lightning, and the inside of the ship was left a scorched, smoking mess. Enel had vanished.
"Thunder Bolt Kick: Raiken!" (Lightning Sword)
A streak of lightning condensed behind Garp. The first part to form was a leg of pure electricity, like a sharp lightning blade, sweeping fiercely towards Garp's back.
"He's almost as fast as Borsalino now."
Garp mumbled, instantly turning around and punching out.
Thud!
The lightning kick and the iron fist instantly collided. The air let out a heavy, dull sound, and countless currents of electricity rampaged across the ground and through the air. A circle of white force-shockwave directly expanded outward, causing the ground to immediately shatter and sink, forming a round crater.
"Hahaha! Now that's more like it!" Garp laughed, looking at the dazzling, lightning-shrouded Enel.